The Shallows

What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

By: Nicholas Carr

Narrated by: Richard Powers

The best-selling author of The Big Switch returns with an explosive look at technology’s effect on the mind.

“Is Google making us stupid?” When Nicholas Carr posed that question in an Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the internet’s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply?

Now, Carr expands his argument into the most compelling exploration yet published of the internet’s intellectual and cultural consequences. Weaving insights from philosophy, neuroscience, and history into a rich narrative, The Shallows explains how the internet is rerouting our neural pathways, replacing the subtle mind of the book reader with the distracted mind of the screen watcher. A gripping story of human transformation played out against a backdrop of technological upheaval, The Shallows will forever alter the way we think about media and our minds.

©2010 Nicholas Carr (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Neuroscience and technology buffs, librarians, and Internet users will find this truly compelling.” ( Library Journal)

“Cogent, urgent, and well worth reading.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Interesting, but has a misleading subtitle

First, let me clarify my headline. Carr's data is not out of date, it's the topic that is (or perhaps subjects that are). If you're seeking to discover "what the internet is doing to our brains," you will not be disappointed. We must, however, know that he is writing about what the internet is doing to OUR brains, not the brains of the youth (or even some older "digital natives"). Research is showing that the youth are "wired differently," and while interesting, this book does not apply to the young generations.

I appreciated that Carr does not make judgments about the positive or negatives associated with these "changes" - I probably would have liked this book far less, had he done so (following the flaw in the description). I perceive that most listening to this book are seeking validation of their own feelings about the internet's effect on humanity. You will be presented with a large amount of information, and left to make your own decisions.

I actually found this book interesting, but I have rated it so low for the performance. I drive while I listen, and this performance was the slowest, most drawn out and boring performance I have EVER listened to - so much so that I nearly quit the book. Instead, I listened at 1.5x speed, just to make it tolerable (but even then, it was questionable).

Interesting content, reader mispronounces terms and names.

The content of the book is interesting. The performance is fine, except for the chapter on neuroscience in which the reader mispronounces terms and names.

Good book

Good story, thats what I needed to listen to. I will probably need to read it again to Understand it fully

Great. Extremely challenging

This was exceptional. My wife keeps asking, “What are you going to change?” Unfortunately lifestyle change is one of the hardest. But this book gives some positive examples on how to do it. Great book. Will Listen again for sure.

More relevant than ever

The perspective feels more important than ever. As AI becomes more capable we need to keep asking: What would we like the computer to do and how would we know if change is an improvement?

1%

1% of this book is very interesting, provocative and eye opening. The author briefly addresses the wide spread distraction of society caused by technology and how our brains arent capable of keeping up with the flow of information we take in on a regular basis. As a result, our memory suffers, we dont retain new information, our brains have begun to crave multitasking and our attention spans have gotten much shorter. I was hoping this book would be a deeper dive into this topic, like the subtitle states. However, the other 99% of the book is an assortment of mildly related digressions and history lessons that are largely unnecessary and in some cases, completely without a point. This is ironic considering the topic of the book. I gave it 3 stars because the 1% portion was very good. If you can find a summary online somewhere (again, ironically), that will be a much better use of your time. Also, it is written over ten years ago, so the technology references are very dated.

Definitely Not Shallow

This book really opened my eyes to how the online world has affected so much of the way I think, act and live. While interesting, there is a lot of human history covered into this book that at times is cumbersome to listen to. He goes into a good deal of scientific things also when talking about the brain processes that I didn't really hold on to, but the message is clear.

Great research, but too much extraneous info

Overall I learned a lot from this book, however my only issue is that I feel Carr went on too many irrelevant tangents that I did not care for. Some examples of this were the chapters on Larry Page, history of writing, etc.

It’s long-winded and feels a little doomy, but the neuroscience is interesting

It’s feeling a little dated since the technology in the book is a little old, but otherwise it holds up.

Wish it were abridged

The chapters 10 and 11 answered the actual question, I thought. 13 is also worth a listen.